


Profiler's rites

by SonicGavel



Category: Hannibal (TV), Silence of the Lambs - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence-Silence of the Lambs, F/M, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Smut, Starts after the cliff fall, Starts out Hannigram and ends with Clarice and Hannibal being together, post Wrath Of The Lamb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-11-26 16:55:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18183263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicGavel/pseuds/SonicGavel
Summary: Hannibal goes back to the BSHCI after surviving the cliff fall sans Will, who sacrificed himself so Hannibal could try and forget what they were to each other and start over. However, seven years pass since Will's death and Hannibal is reminded of a favor he did an old patient years ago when he meets the future love of his life, Agent Clarice Starling





	1. Let me go...

**Author's Note:**

> So this is gonna diverge kinda from Silence of the Lambs and Buffalo Bill'll take a back seat while Hannibal goes through learning about Clarice's whereabouts as she grew and then Clarice discovers her true origins and learns she's not the daughter of a town marshal and his wife, a hotel wetmaid like she thought, but the daughter of an FBI profiler and a pig farmer's sister who begged Hannibal to take her zygote out once she found out about the pregnancy out of fear Mason'd find out and put it into a surrogate who was already like a daughter to Hannibal and Will.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Clarice to Hannibal for the first time.

Flashes of the cliffside of his home he and Will hid away to to wait for Francis, to where on the bluff they slayed the Dragon, to where Will dragged them off after their embrace. To hitting the waters of that cliffside, to Hannibal swimming to the surface to find his Will, his sweet, newly become Will. Hannibal searched frantically and almost gave up until he found where his love had fallen, in the sharp ridge of rocks clustered at the bottom.

"WILL!" Hannibal wailed as he swam to him. He could see Will was barely conscious when he swam as fast as he could to his faintly alive body, fragile as he ever looked in his life, even more so than when he was suffering his Encephalitic fever.

"Will, Will. Please don't leave me, not like this, not when you've discovered your true darkness. No. I love you." Hannibal all but screamed it to God in an effort to beg for him to give him more time with the love he didn't want to lose again.

"Hannibal, it's too late f-for me." Will's voice was weak, barely hanging on, coughing up blood. Hannibal was starting to cry as Will reached his bone-shredded hand to caress Hannibal's face for the first and last time. "Promise not to dwell on this. Find someone new for me. You gotta let me go this time." Will then started to turn so he could look at Hannibal one more time and Hannibal had no choice but to comply with Will's wishes. But not before they had their first and last kiss. Hannibal then watched as Will bled to death and the older man just felt like giving up on life for the first time. He then turned himself back into the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane under the conditions that he had a harpsichord to compose during his time there. Alana complied to that and Frederick did so too, as he returned to his chair as Director of the institute.

Life in the halls were a mix between quiet and loud with Hannibal's compositions-mostly about losing Will as it was the only way he could try and clear his head-and the constant releases of criminals who became legally sane and arrivals of criminals who were meant to be there until death. Miggs was no exception to that as he was a nasty kind of evil Hannibal particularly hated. Miggs was sexually crude most of all with women in general let alone with the female staff who had to come down to serve lunch to the inmates. Hannibal longed for the day that waste of sperm and egg finally drew the line with him. That day came when seven years to the day Hannibal had felt his heart sinking with Will's life force in that patch of trepid water along that ridge of rocks under the cliffside, he heard Miggs say five brunt and offensive words to someone Frederick was leading down the corridor.

"I can smell your cunt." Miggs said as a young profiler who was new to the FBI, still in the Academy from the looks of it, walked further down the corridor to where Hannibal was. Hannibal stood up to face her as she and Chilton eventually reached his cell.

"Good morning. I am Dr. Hannibal Lecter. And you are?" Hannibal asked as he faced the young trainee.

"Hannibal, this is Clarice Starling. She's here to ask you about a new killer in the papers. Agent, I'll leave you two be. Hannibal, play nice." Frederick looked stern as he walked back to his office.

"You looked new, did Jack send you straight from the Academy?" Hannibal asked innocently. The trainee blushed but stayed stoic despite this slip. She then proceeded to show him her week-lasting temporary FBI ID badge. Hannibal nodded in believing her and invited her to sit in the chair provided by Frederick before leaving.

"So who do you need help with?" Hannibal asked as he sat down to talk to her.

"A serial killer dubbed Buffalo Bill. The media dubbed him that because he cuts the skin off their back after he kills them. We don't know what he's doing with the skin or why he would do that. We thought you could offer insight on that." She explained. Hannibal looked into her eyes and saw she was trustworthy and loyal to her beliefs. But for a brief moment, he saw she had reddish brown hair and deep blue eyes, eyes as blue as Will's was. But that had to be impossible, it had to be a coincidence if she's who he just realized by only staring at her more thoroughly, could she be? "He also puts some sort of insect larvae in their mouths post mortem, we're yet to identify the species. It could be a butterfly or a moth but we're not sure." Clarice said. Hannibal broke the void between listening to Clarice and thinking about how she looked familiar in a funny way to take a whiff of her scent through the air holes of the window to his room.

"The skin is a mystery, perhaps he's keeping the skin as a trophy, unless he could be using the skin like a hide of some sort, that could explain the Media's name.

"A hide for what though?" Clarice asked.

"I guess we'll have to find out as we continue." Hannibal said. "By the way, Evian skin cream and L'air Du Temp are a smell fitting for a woman as charming as yourself, you're not wearing L'air Du Temp right now though. Is it too unprofessional?"

"I guess you can say that, Doctor. I'll give Agent Crawford some of the insight when I get back to the FBI, let me know when we can meet again." Clarice blushed again and clumsily crashed into her chair before standing right back up and going out the same way as Frederick, who Hannibal hoped was surveilling as he knew Miggs was never up to no good and he had complained about the manically menacing mysogenistic crude for months but still nothing was done. Thankfully, Miggs drew one line too many when suddenly, the bastard was openly masturbating and some of it was flung into Clarice's mouth, causing even Frederick to run down immediately to Clarice's aid. Hannibal yelled at Frederick to get her to Alana and then told him he needs to make a phone call.

That night, he had to call Margot about the night she asked for a favor.

A favor she asked him to do a month after she and Will had sex.


	2. A favor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Frederick assures that Alana's given Clarice treatment for what Miggs has done and Hannibal's permitted to kill Miggs for what he did to Clarice but on the condition that he go into Solitary Confinement for doing so for a month, Margot visits his cell asking about why he called. A flashback to a month after Margot and Will had sex ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if people can transfer zygotes or embryos to other uteruses but I used that idea in a fantasy with my best Tumblr friend once, so you might just have to roll along with this idea.

Miggs's misdeed was a punishable act in and of itself. Imagine the diseases that man carries without the STIs or STDs he could be carrying as well, that lunatic was a Cesspool of germs and filth, a human petrie dish just waiting to condemn the first person that crosses his path to death. Frederick knew that, he was wary of the man the second Frederick was forced to welcome him to the hospital. So when he gave Hannibal the go ahead to kill him even though he would be risking his career yet again? Hannibal told him that but Frederick just shook his head.

"I don't want anymore people hurt. Please take care of him, Hannibal. But just know I will have to punish you to keep up appearances. A month of Solitary Confinement." Frederick explained, Hannibal just nodded his head.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Once the deed was done and Miggs was choking on his tongue, Hannibal got moved to the solitary confinement where he waited for his month to be up. Shortly thereafter, Frederick let Margot in. The hue of her hair was as red as Clarice's was. Another reason she should be informed of this discovery. With her was a young boy who was similar in physical appearance only to Mason. Similar, but so so different from the monster who involuntarily gave a donation to become Margot's son with Alana, who also informed Margot what happened. He stayed close to his mother but gave a quiet smile to Hannibal.

"Dr. Lecter, what's going on? Alana called me to say something happened this morning at the hospital?" Margot was confused.

"It seems, Margot, Miggs got a little too "teste" with a guest, an FBI trainee Jack sent to ask me about a new killer they're tracking. Frederick's already allowed me to end him and to keep up appearances, I've been put under solitary confinement for a month. Frederick's sentencing. He felt it fair a month since it was his idea. How about you? Young Graham, you look like the sperm donor you refuse to call your father everyday but your mothers continue to raise you to know right from wrong, yes?" Hannibal changed subjects to talk to the young man standing close to Margot, who nodded courteously at the older gentleman and then looked down at the floor.

"Dr. Lecter, Hannibal. What does that have to do with me?" Margot asked as Hannibal then turned to face the wall, his back to the woman and her adopted son. "Do you remember that night, Margot? The night you confided in me your and Will's tryst?" Hannibal then went to his harpsichord and started playing the piece he composed the night Will sent Matthew Brown to kill him. "Remember the favor you asked of me after? When you knew what Mason was capable of?" As he played, he closed his eyes and in his memory palace, he saw Margot sitting in his office as their session was ending.

"Dr. Lecter, I'm pregnant. I slept with another one of your patients, and I became pregnant. However, Mason. He wanted to be the one to impregnate me and I need your help. Save my zygote, you and I both know what he's capable of." Margot was calm about it and Hannibal honored her stoicism and seeing as she was right about Mason's instability, he felt he needed to save the baby before Mason did the worst thing to it.

"I have an OB/GYN I'm friends with still as I used to work with them occasionally, I can also talk to a friend who can surrogate and put the baby up for adoption as soon as it's born so she can be able to come back and give the patient I've seemed to fall for myself a reason to leave with me and the friend." Hannibal said as he told Margot to come with him to his house later that night. Once they were at the house and the OB/GYN friend helped get Margot ready, she was then introduced to Abigail and Hannibal prepped Abigail to transfer the baby to her. With delicate hands and a steady hold, the OB/GYN friend and Hannibal got the zygote safely out of Margot's uterus and into Abigail's, where she safely recovered in Hannibal's bedroom while the zygote took to her and Margot got home to Mason, who after somehow finding out about the baby, schemed to put her through a car crash and proceeded to take away her uterus and ovaries. Margot no longer felt like a woman but at least Mason didn't know the baby was already out of her. As the piece was finished, Hannibal zoomed back out of his memory palace and looked back at Margot.

"Wait, you don't mean. The trainee Jack sent, you think she's-" Margot started before Hannibal cut her off.

"The child we had Abigail Hobbs hide away all those years ago, I believe she could be. She has your hair color, Margot. But her eyes. The unmistakable ocean blue hue in them, they're definitely Will's shade." Hannibal said as he stood back up.

"I wish Frederick told ME, I'd want to kill him too." Margot said as she remembered what had been told to her earlier, about Miggs and Clarice. "Alana, has she treated her for what he'd done yet?"

"Ah Hannibal, Frederick told me you'd be here after what you did to Miggs. Margot sweetie, Graham. What are you two doing here?" Alana asked as she saw Margot and Graham visiting Hannibal.

"Hannibal said he had information on a favor I asked of him before Graham was conceived like he was." Margot said.

"Well I thought Hannibal will be surprised to know that Agent Starling is NOT infected with anything, but just to be on the safe side, we WILL still be treating and testing her for whatever could've been in Miggs's pants, lack of them or not. As a result, Miggs's autopsy came back clean of STIs and Ds that could prove 100% dangerous but had some serious ones as well so your only getting a month is justifiable by Chilton's standards, and knowing Frederick, I know he asked you to do that." Alana said, looking suspicious but amused at the same time.

"Did you manage to get her DNA as I asked?" Hannibal asked.

"Yes and I'm running it against Will's as we speak but I don't know why you did."

"I want you to contact an old friend of mine from my days as a surgeon, an OB/GYN. He'll fill in the details. Get some DNA from my friend who helped me do a procedure for a patient I cannot reveal due to Client patient confidence." Hannibal said as he bid Margot and Graham adieu and went back to playing his harpsichord, this time playing yet another composition about losing Will, but then thinking about composing a new piece. This time about hope in the pain and suffering, but remembered it might not be the case. Meanwhile, that night, a Senator's daughter, Catherine Martin, was driving to a job interview when she was knocked unconscious by a guy who seemingly needed help putting furniture into his u-haul. He ripped her dress at the back and felt the skin before reading her outfit size.

"Perfect." He smiled before closing up the u-haul with her inside and drove it off into his destination. News of this broke the next morning as the woman senator had called 911 when she didn't get a check-in call like she did every morning when she and her daughter called. Clarice was in class when she got a call from Jack to talk to Hannibal again. She decided to put on the L'air Du Temps not expecting to be called in again. She wondered if smelling it directly would make Hannibal react.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE comment if you like this story.


	3. Fill me with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Clarice asks about further insight on the Buffalo Bill case, Hannibal asks Clarice about her family life, how she was raised and who raised her. With more info about her released, another flashback, this time to when Abigail got the call after she left the baby once it was born to regroup at Hannibal's before he had to kill her to punish Will.

"I know Senator Martin well. She and her daughter are closer than Ethel and Lucy." Hannibal said as he was sipping his tea that Frederick brought him personally for his breakfast. A rarity since they always served mostly water but because Frederick asked Hannibal to kill Miggs, it was fair he delivered him tea. Though to keep up appearances, it had to be Hannibal's least favorite flavor. An apologetic look on the one time friend's face was good looking on the man's less-than-stellar looks. And Hannibal curtly nodded an "I forgive you this transgression, appearances and all" to the younger man as Frederick went back out of Solitary to tend to his other patients. "Though I believe Buffalo Bill's choosing his victimas at random."

Clarice stared puzzled. "You mean to say that she was at the wrong spot at the wrong time when he lured her away to ask about something?"

"Anything to ruse his victims to help someone in need. It is a possibility. As for your insect, I do suggest you look at Agents Price and Zeller. They're two of the best in the Forensic Entomology field. Another alternative is the two men who trained under them, Pilcher and Roden."

"Good idea, Doctor. I'll look into that as soon as I can." Clarice was kinda hoping Hannibal could smell the perfume, though she was afraid he couldn't due to his month in solitary confinement for Miggs. However, that didn't stop the passing of the files via the slot from letting him catch a whiff.

"Ah, the L'air du temp is back on your skin. You weren't expecting business to happen again so soon." Hannibal said. It was almost enough to make Clarice blush.

"I just wanted to smell good after an obstacle course day followed by relaxation worth of sitting at a table the rest of the day. Plus the perfume holds happier memories of my childhood." Clarice looked at the floor.

"How so?" Hannibal's interest was piqued.

"Well, I lived in West Virginia for the first 7 years of my life. My daddy was a town marshal and my mama worked at the local hotel. They raised me and my brothers and sisters up well until my daddy was shot and killed on the line of duty. My mama could barely afford to feed all of us with the wages she brought home from the hotel. I offered to take care of the kids while she worked more than one job but she wanted me to stay a child, so she separated me and my siblings to stay with different family members. For me, it was my uncle's farm. I worked hard there so I still had to grow up fast. But I didn't mind. I was befriended by all the people both at the farm and around the community. Until I tried to save a Spring lamb from slaughter." She started tearing up and gulped down the pain.

"But enough about me. What about you? What exactly brought you to what you became?" Clarice asked Hannibal as Hannibal's anger at what she dropped at stiffly subsided.

"A beggar killed and fed my sister to me." Hannibal said as Clarice was as horrified as Hannibal was when he had realized what the beggar had done to his beloved and lost Mischa.

"That must've been terrible for you." Clarice shook her head in terror and pain.

"Traumatizing as not only was she the only immediate family I had left, but we were yet only children at the time of the indiscretion. I made him pay immensely for his crime but I then found his body decorated like a firefly at my family estate, done by a man I had fallen in love with." Hannibal smiled as he remembered Will's present for him waiting for him in the basement of his ancestral home. His heart ached for Will and prayed silently that Clarice was indeed the long lost child Abigail had to give up.

"Well I best be going. Do you have a name for Buffalo Bill yet by the way? Jack wanted to know." Clarice asked bluntly as if she hadn't just spilled her soul to the older man in the last half hour, as Hannibal had done so to her just now.

"Check my files. They're in my old house. Frederick has the key. I think I remember a Transfemale who wanted Gender reassignment surgery, but was rudely denied by my board. That's why I wanted to go into Psychiatry to begin with." Hannibal and Clarice then nodded to each other as Clarice said her goodbye and went to Hannibal's house, but first went to the four Forensic Entomologists about the moth larvae.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

That night, Hannibal added to his new piece as he flashed back in his memory palace. This time, to after Mason had taken Margot's uterus out to discover there was no baby. Upon the discovery that the baby was Will's? That was a shock but no surprise. The plan had already commenced and Abigail was already far away keeping the fetus safe for them. She even picked out a little token for the baby to help her find the mother who conceived her when she was old enough: A pig and horse keychain on a necklace chain, a parcel tag reading the last name VERGER tied to it. She even sent Hannibal pictures, which he was saving for the day he got to ask Will to come with.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you which patient it was, Doctor Lecter. I didn't want to risk what Mason'd do to the baby let alone the man who got me pregnant." Margot explained.

"It is not your fault dear Margot. Will's still none the wiser about whether or not the baby's alive and you will have your heir. Be it a boy or a girl." Hannibal said as he gave a soft smile to Margot.

"So what will happen to Mason?" Margot asked.

"I'm going to chloroform him, kidnap him, fill him with psychedelics and convince him to show me how your papa showed him how to check the depth of a pig's head." Hannibal said as Margot gave an evil grin at that idea, asking for pictures before Hannibal showed her the pics Abigail sent of the indicator of where to point the baby when they were old enough. Hannibal was then pulled out of the flashback with a swift slam of the door from Solitary confinement. It was Frederick and Alana.

"HANNIBAL!" Alana shouted as he stood up to greet the two of them as Alana power walked up to his cell.

"Yes, Alana. Good evening by the way. Have you news on the DNA sample you tested?" He asked

"Yeah, Starling's DNA matches WILL'S?! We also got a DNA match from MARGOT! We need to talk and we need to talk now, Hannibal." Alana was pissed as Frederick looked confused as all hell but Hannibal just smiled.

At last, the confirmation was completed. But not completely. Not yet that is, As Clarice now had to find out on her own who she truly was and what her true parentage is. He prayed that her parents kept the indicator that Abigail purchased, waiting for her to find somewhere in her belongings what she inherited as she became a young adult woman.


	4. Bearing the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal tells Alana what Margot asked of him years ago she's both horrified that Margot never said anything to her let alone that Hannibal never said anything after his license was revoked following his capture since Margot was no longer his patient, but Hannibal confirms it had to be done to protect Clarice. Meanwhile, Clarice finds the necklace Abigail left behind.

In a dark pit, deep but not as dark, Catherine was screaming for help. She was scratched up and in pain and a man was hosing her down for disobeying his rules. She was shivering. She was then given some lotion to moisturize her skin after he had done so. She did it and as she was in too much pain to not comply to his demands, she put the lotion back in the basket after moisturizing her skin as he told her to. He had his dog, Princess, in his arms as he performed his actions and then proceeded to go into his sewing room in his house to work on a fabric he was stitching together. However, the fabric was leather like in nature but had a soft _fleshy_ feel to it if you looked at it up close. Catherine just passed out from pain as Princess sniffed around the well before following her owner.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

"So let me get this straight. Margot slept with Will years ago and asked you to help hide the baby?" Alana asked. "How was that even possible?" Alana was curious and confused, but still angry.

"Abigail Hobbs. We put the zygote inside her with the help of that OB/GYN I knew. I didn't know it was Will's until Mason took Margot's uterus and then Will went to Mason's and aimed a gun at him. That's what led to me doing what I did to him." Hannibal explained. "Margot still has the pictures I sent her of the damage done. But then Will also came in when I was in the middle of telling Mason to cut parts of his face off and feed them to Will's dogs. Did I fail to mention it was at Will's house?" Hannibal smiled shallowly as Alana facepalmed and Frederick groaned.

"And about Abigail?" Alana asked. "Was that why she was hiding all that time?"

"She was just a few states away. She'd chosen to put the baby up for adoption in West Virginia, or at least that's what I learned from what Clarice said. Abigail never really said where she was hiding the baby from Mason." Hannibal said.

"She was here earlier? Why?" Alana asked.

"Buffalo Bill kidnapped Senator Ruth Martin's daughter last night. Clarice got called in to talk to Hannibal again." Frederick explained.

"Oh God." Alana said in shock. "I need to talk to her again."

"She doesn't know yet she's actually a Verger."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"We wait until she finds the indicator." Hannibal said as Alana looked at him confused.

"What indicator?" Alana asked.

"Before Abigail had the baby, when she was growing inside Abigail, she sent me pictures via text of a necklace chain with a pig and a horse on it. She heard me talk about how Margot loved horseback riding and how Mason owned Muskrat Farms. She thought the necklace made with a pig keychain and a horse keychain would be an important key to her future and past. Since Clarice has a chance at an inheritance to Muskrat Farms, the symbolism would be quite important. She also attached parcel tag to the chain and wrote Margot's last name in all caps." Hannibal said.

"Abigail was smart." Alana said, smiling. Hannibal nodded as Frederick took Hannibal out of Solitary confinement early despite his need to keep up appearances, chopping it up to good behavior and Hannibal went back to his regular cell.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Meanwhile, Clarice was getting a call from her mom while she was looking through her case files. She found a Jack Gordon/Jaime Gumb. She was telling her that she'd been thinking about a lot of things these days. "Mama, do you ever think about Daddy?" Clarice asked.

"All the time, baby. You thinking of him as of late?" Clarice's mom asked.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things. I still wear your perfume when I need to think of happier times." She smiled. Her mother then remembered something suddenly.

"By the way. I found some of the stuff I kept even after your uncle wrongly sent you to that orphanage. Your father's brother was a monster but I never took that crap, especially after what he did." Clarice's mother said.

"Cool, I'll drive by later this week to pick it up." Clarice said as she finished studying the case more and studying for the Academy. The rest of the week consisted of a couple days off classes, continuing with the Buffalo Bill case, planning her next discussion with Hannibal, grocery shopping and going to her mother's. When she got the stuff, she then reunited when she returned to her house with all her childhood toys she had from the first seven years of her life and the stuff at the farm she was banished to the orphanage from. However, she was soon confused when she saw adoption papers that her mother and father signed and an adoptee signer, Abigail Hobbs.

"What?" Clarice frowned in curiosity and confusion. She then did more research with the adoption papers and learned that she was adopted by her parents from this Abigail Hobbs, who wasn't really the biological mother but had the baby put inside her for their protection. She didn't know what to say. She just found out she wasn't actually the daughter of a town marshal like she always believed. But as she looked for more comforting toys that her mom said were all accounted for as her room was never changed, she found her most favorite toy. A teddy bear dressed like Barney Fife from Andy Griffith. That's when she found the necklace in her baby book.

"That's cute." She said as she put it around her neck, but not before she saw the tag that read VERGER. When she did find the name, she looked it up on the internet and found the address for Muskrat Farms. Feeling a need to visit, she drove out there after writing down the address, she then knocked on the door of the main house and Graham answered the door.

"Oh hello." Graham said as he greeted Clarice.

"Hi, I'm Clarice. I'm looking for a Mason or Margot Verger?" Clarice asked.

"Oh, Mason was my biological father but he died years ago. I'm raised by my moms though. I'm Graham. Come on in." Graham said as he guided Clarice inside.

"The home looks quite beautiful." Clarice said.

"Thank you. Would you like some bacon and eggs? Or maybe some porkchops? I cook quite often." Graham said.

"No thank you, but I appreciate the offer." Clarice said.

"I like the necklace by the way, quite rustic in appeal." Graham said as he finished cooking. "My mom's shopping right now and my other mom's at work. I just turned 14 last week so they deemed me fit enough to be left at home." Graham said.

"That's quite interesting." Clarice said as Graham served her something to eat.

"Go ahead, try the meal." Graham said as Clarice caved, sat down, dug in and after taking a bite, smiled at how the seasonings were just right.

"Mmm, very delicious. You must be thinking of a culinary career in the future." Clarice said.

"Yeah, my moms are very impressed with my talent." Graham said as Margot came in suddenly.

"Graham, I'm home." Margot said as she carried two bags of groceries. "Who are you talking to?" She asked when she heard Graham talking in the kitchen. When Graham grabbed the groceries and went to put them all away as Margot then took one look at Clarice.

"Hi, I'm FBI Academy trainee Clarice Starling and I needed to talk to you about this necklace I found." Clarice said as she took the necklace off and handed it to Margot. The older woman's eyes then started to well with tears as she then clutched the necklace in her hands, then embraced Clarice and looked her up and down. Hannibal was right, she had her red hue, but she also had dark brown hair like Will and she undoubtedly had Will's eyes. Those deep ocean blue eyes that she sank into when she and Will had sex that night. Sure she was the one who used him but if she was completely attracted to him, she would TOTALLY have jumped on the marriage wagon with that man. But she focused more on Clarice, how she was staring right at her in the flesh, how she had handed her the necklace Abigail left for her to wear and discover her true parentage and inheritance. Margot then started to ugly cry and grabbed Clarice into a tight hug. Graham then remembered what Hannibal had told her a few days ago and the young boy realized his half sister had found her way home and smiled as he hugged her too.

"Welcome home, sis." Graham said as he smiled at Clarice deeper than he already was as she accepted the hugs from the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment. They mean just as much as kudos. Maybe a bit more.


	5. Celebrating a home welcoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margot shows Clarice photos of her new family she learns about and Graham plans a welcome home meal. Meanwhile, Senator Martin thinks Hannibal knows more than he's letting on and makes Frederick betray Hannibal's trust by any means to get Catherine back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the heavy Graham content. He and Clarice are to inherit Muskrat Farms in the future afterall. :)

"This is your grandmother, she was WAY harsher on your uncle Mason. And when she found out what he'd been doing to me? Not only did she try to kill him. She also threatened to turn Grandpa into an eunich if he didn't punish him." Margot smiled as she was showing family photos to Clarice.

"Hey, Mom? I'm thinking it's time I cook with alcohol. I wanna try out making Vodka Penne with pancetta and heavy cream. Can I try that?" Graham asked.

"Wait until Mom comes home." Margot said.

"I'll wait to start with the vodka, but I'm gonna cook the pancetta off first to render the fat." Graham said in return.

"That's good." Margot said back as she returned to the book. "When we celebrate happy things, we make foods with alcohol cooked in." She explained to Clarice.

"Who's that?" Clarice asked.

"That's Uncle Mason. He only paid for his crimes when Alana stole his sperm with a cattle prod." Margot ran a thumbnail over his face as if she was carving his face like Hannibal tricked him into doing that night he did.

"My favorite story. That was how I was conceived. Shortly after Mom stole the sperm, she poured it inside herself, and I was detected months later." Graham said as he came out with a cheese platter and a sparkling red grape juice. "I cultured my own farmer's cheese and made butter crackers out of my pie dough recipe. Use the knife and do try the grapes I raised in my own personal fruit garden." Clarice was impressed by all the techniques Graham knew at only 14.

"Graham, this h'ors d'vhors spread is to die for as always." Margot said as she took a cracker and cut into the farmer's cheese.

"What milk did you use to make the cheese?" Clarice asked.

"Pig milk. But that's only a new enterprise in milking animals. Soon, I hope to bring cows, Alpaccas and sheep to the farm. Never chickens though. I fear we won't have the time." Graham said as he went back to the kitchen.

"He hopes to be financially able enough to expand the farm first. He does have his inheritance, but he wants to add to it in his hopes to make money with his ambitions in the culinary industry." Margot beamed as Graham included a Foie Gras he had bought on his own.

"Nice and pan fried. I also included a little basil and garlic and I finished it off in a butter bath. Go ahead, Sis. Dig in." Graham had every intention to impress Clarice since they finally met. Clarice felt though she was NOT gonna survive to try the Vodka Penne.

"Is he always this food oriented?" Clarice asked Margot.

"Very. Alana once took videos of Hannibal cooking back when she was sleeping with him and when he was 5, he took interest in the videos. Since then, he always wanted to ask Hannibal for tutelage under him.

"Isn't he aware he's a cannibal?" Clarice asked.

"He wouldn't repeat with Humans. Unless it was his uncle, and he's completely decomposed under his old bedroom." Margot giggled at that last thought. Clarice just went along with what was said.

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"Dr. Chilton?" A woman in a tailored suit and a political air about her asked as she walked, more like stormed into his office.

"Yes?" Frederick asked as he was reviewing the papers of a new patient.

"Doctor, I'm Ruth Martin. My daughter was just taken by a serial killer names Buffalo Bill?" Senator Martin said as she extended a hand to Frederick.

"Oh yes. Senator, I have it in my highest knowledge that the FBI is working to save your daughter." Frederick said as he shook her hand.

"But it's what I want you to do for me." Sen. Martin said as she looked sternly at him. "I would like Dr. Hannibal Lecter transferred to a maximum security prison. He knows about who took my baby and I want answers."

"Senator, with all due respect, you don't know Hannibal Lecter like I do." Frederick suddenly got flashbacks to when Hannibal framed him, when he got shot and then later set on fire. Though that last one wasn't on him. "He'll seek revenge on people he's betrayed by. Or are you not aware of Abigail Hobbs?"

"Hannibal Lecter once operated on my husband years ago. He saved his life." Sen. Martin started.

"Then you really should understand the gravity of the situation, Madame Senator." Frederick said as he tried to walk out.

"Well then, if you refuse to help me, perhaps you'd like a better incentive. Transfer Dr. Lecter to a Tennessee Maximum security prison or I'll have no choice but to make you live the rest of your measley life like how Squidward Tenticles lived for six months before SpongeBob moved him to his house in the episode "Can you spare a dime?". You have seen that episode, right? I know you used to babysit for Graham Verger when he was a baby." The Senator stated rather coldly.

"You understand that blackmailing me like this is signing BOTH our death warrants?" Frederick was angrier than ever now. "Do you really wanna murder just to be THIS RECKLESS?!"

"I JUST WANT MY BABY BACK! CLEARLY YOU WOULD FEEL LIKE I DO IF YOU WERE A PARENT, DOCTOR CHILTON?!" Sen. Martin practically roared at Frederick. Frederick wasn't a parent, but sympathized with Margot and Alana when they got Graham. He was, quite unfortunately beat.

"How do you want to go with this?" Frederick asked, already beating himself up for damning his soul.

"I just knew you'd see things my way." Senator Martin sneered with a smug face as she handed over the transfer papers.

"Doctor Hannibal Lecter is to be transferred to a Memphis Maximum security prison, but must wait 24 hours to enter and will be doing so in the neighboring main room of a courthouse. In edition, Dr. Lecter must give the name and address of the man they call Buffalo Bill to save the daughter of Sen. Ruth Martin. May God forgive me." Frederick sighed as he signed the papers. When he handed the papers back to the senator, who smiled and bounced on her heel to prepare for take-off.

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Frederick walked depressed up to Hannibal's cell.

"Frederick. What brings you down here this quiet evening?" Hannibal asked, smiling. Slowly though, as Hannibal saw how grimm Frederick looked, his smile faded. "Not good news, I take it."

"I'm sorry, Hannibal. My hand was forced in this." Frederick started as Hannibal frowned in confusion. "Senator Martin thinks you know more about Buffalo Bill than you've given to Agent Starling. She wants you in Maximum security ASAP." Frederick then handed Hannibal the file, with a note on top.

"I already told Alana, Clarice knows half her parentage. She'll tell her your future whereabouts when she gets to Muskrat Farms." Secured in there was a pinkie finger, one which looked eerily similar to a fake Frederick managed to make out of a l'il smokie and an almond sliver. Hannibal then hid it in his pants pocket as he then braced to be put in a straitjacket and face guard.

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"Margot, Clarice. Frederick got strongarmed into sending Hannibal to Memphis. Clarice, if there's anything you need to hear from Hannibal about the case now, you better fly over." Alana said alarmed. "He's bound to escape after a while."

"Wait. Before you go. Hannibal helped save you, but he also had eyes for the man who helped conceive you. You should learn who he is." Margot said as she gave a pic of Will to her.

"I packed a dinner for you to eat on the plane. Sorry you'll probably have to get dessert on the plane, I was gonna make pöt de crème and they take a while." Graham said. "It's a shame I never met your father. I was named after him."

"You were?" Clarice asked in amazement.

"Yes. Will Graham. My mom said she helped Doctor Lecter escape almost getting eaten by the pigs to save him from getting his face cut off by Cordell. He was Mason's caregiver until the night he was murdered after the sperm sample I was conceived from was stolen from him." Graham then gave Clarice her servings and wished her luck. Just as she made it to the airport for Memphis, she was told by Jack to look for a Louis Friend. Clarice knew Hannibal better. She then twisted the letters around and realized he literally gave them Fool's Gold.

She stayed her course and headed down into Memphis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment. I live for comments. Also, Hannibal and Clarice kiss next chapter.


	6. A confession and a lead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarice makes it to Memphis and Hannibal has one more moment with her before his inevitable escape. Clarice then goes on her way to follow Hannibal's last clue he gifts her to finally find Buffalo Bill.

The man tried on some of his outfit he was making. It wasn't just an outfit, it made him look more like a woman. He looked in a fullbody mirror, whispering to himself "Fuck me" over and over while listening to some cheesy '80's music. At the same time, Catherine took a bucket and scooped the man's dog into the pit with her. Studying to be a vet for a year, she specialized in dog care. Prognosis was good, but she needed out of the pit as soon as Catherine would need.

The music continued until morning.

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"I was afraid you wouldn't make it." Hannibal said as Clarice came in to see him.

"Doctor, I came as soon as I heard." Clarice said as she walked up to Hannibal's cell. Frederick watched as the two interacted and told the guards to wait until he felt there wasn't a safety for Clarice to be there.

"I have what's left of the file. Go ahead and take it back." Hannibal said as he handed it to Clarice.

"I got what you gave the FBI, Doctor." Clarice smiled as she started to tear up.

"Clever girl." Hannibal smiled as he soon saw a picture of Will. "You know about Will now, then?" he asked in curiosity.

"It's all brief, what my birthmom said about him. Graham also gave some insight." Clarice shared.

"I'll be happy to tell you more about your birthfather." Hannibal said.

"My uncle was slaughtering all the spring lambs, I saved the one I helped birth. But my uncle found me, beat me, made me watch as it died screaming and then sent me to an orphanage where I stayed until college. He even kept the money my mama was sending to care for me." Clarice soon found herself crying again.

"I was in love with your father. We started out as friends, then he was my patient pro bono under Jack Crawford's orders. Then I had to frame him for my crimes." Hannibal said. "Eventually, I gave him back his freedom after he sent Matthew Brown to kill me." Hannibal and Clarice then started embracing through the bars.

"I've crushed on you since the second time we met." Clarice said in return.

"I suspected you were the baby I saved years ago the second Frederick left you alone."

"I found the possible patient you treated in the files you gave me access to."

"I believe you should try interviewing members of Buffalo Bill's first victim."

"I'm afraid to say I'm in love with you, Doctor because of the feelings you had for the man who helped conceive me. Tell me Doctor. Are you in love with me or the ghost inside me?" That was a sudden yet brunt question. All Hannibal could do was wrap his arms around Clarice through the bars and kiss her deep and tender. She was deep and tender back as they kissed for what could only be the first and last time. When they pulled away, Hannibal stroked her face and touched his forehead to hers.

"I think you can start calling me Hannibal now." Hannibal said as Clarice nodded and started crying happy tears. Suddenly, Frederick and the guards showed up and Frederick told Clarice it was time to go, and she reluctantly complied as she and Hannibal said their goodbyes.

As Clarice went to her destination, Jack and the others arrived at the decoy address. All the while, Hannibal used Frederick's pinkie to make a key, ate a guard's face off, surgically removed another guard's face to pretend to be the guard he ate the face of and snuck out in an ambulance. Senator Martin was fuming not only at Hannibal, but at Frederick. He didn't care, as long as he could continue to stay on Hannibal's good graces.

Meanwhile, Clarice was in Ohio. She interviewed everyone who was associated with Buffalo Bill's first victim. She then came across Jack Gordon's house.

"He's the one Hannibal talked about in his files, the Jaime Gumb who couldn't afford gender reassignment." Clarice said to herself as she knocked on his door.

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Meanwhile, the man had just discovered what Catherine had done to his dog and he was livid beyond belief.

"Put her in the basket." The man begged.

"Let me out first, asshole." Catherine sassed, making the man angrier than ever. That's when he heard the knock on the door.

"I'll deal with you later." The man said as he stormed out and went to answer the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The altercation with Clarice and Buffalo Bill is next chapter. Please comment.


	7. The showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarice finds Buffalo Bill and nothing changes there. She graduates and becomes an Agent, but she also runs Muskrat Farms on the side with Graham.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also expect Clarice to get a call from Hannibal at the end of the chapter, but he doesn't stalk Frederick.

"Jack Gordon?" Clarice asked as the man answered the door.

"Yes, who may I ask is asking." The man, Jack, asked as he held his door open more.

"Mr. Gordon, my name's Clarice Starling. I'm a trainee with the FBI and I'd like to ask you questions about a murder that happened months ago and wanted to know if you had anything to add about what had happened." Clarice explained.

"Sure, come on in." Jack said as he let the trainee in and offered her a seat on his couch as he sat right across from her.

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"I wasn't living here fulltime at the same time that girl was killed, I worked for the original owner of this house at the time though. She was real nice to me. Especially after my medical insurance refused to pay for my sex change." Jack said as he poured himself and Clarice a cup of tea. "She willed me the house and some of its contents. Everything else went to her family, of course. And I plan to gift it to the family when I die. I had my affairs in order for that and everything." He smiled charmingly as he told Clarice.

"That's nice, Mr. Gordon. Could you tell me where the restroom is? I need to go." Clarice explained.

"Oh yes, of course. Down the hall, to the left. Stay true until you hit the first door on the right." Jack said as she thanked him.

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When Clarice finished, she was about to leave the hall when she saw on the other end of the hall, a terrarium full of moths, the kind left with all the victims at the crime scenes.

"That can't be coincidence." She thought out loud until she heard Catherine's voice in a spare room.

"Hello? Hello? Someone outthere besides the asshole?" She asked.

"Catherine? Are you Catherine Martin?" Clarice asked as she heard Catherine call out.

"Finally. Please tell me you're here to save me." Catherine said as she held up the dog.

"Ssh, you're going to lead the man here and I won't be able to save you if you do." Clarice said.

"My apologies, I usually have my mom's negotiation abilities. Sometimes they're shit." She said as she quieted down and allowed Clarice to hide. However, Jack realized she was onto him the whole time. He ran in, went to look for her and found his way around other parts of the house to catch up with Clarice. Just as she found a room where another body was decomposing, presumably another vic, he turned the lights off and she had to depend on her senses. Jack wasn't stupid though, as he already had night vision goggles on hand to stalk Clarice around the remaining parts of the house. She was scared, but still kept her cool as she would always feel around like she did when she was little and her parents taught her how to remain calm during a blackout or in the off chance it was planned, she could end up abducted along with her siblings. Siblings she still called hers even if she was adopted.

The chase felt like almost an hour without light, but it was only five or ten minutes.

"She's tempting to reach out and touch." Jack silently thought to himself as he almost did a couple times. He decided against it and was ready to break his MO and shoot her in the back of the head. However, just as he cocked his gun, she turned around and shot him up, bringing the light back in the process. He gargled to death as she called Jack and called the police.

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Ruth made it in record time along with the rest of the FBI and Jack Crawford came in asking if Catherine was alright and if Clarice was too. Plus, Crawford had to tell her the news.

"Lecter escaped. We tried reaching you but you were here the whole time and we didn't know if you'd get our messages." Crawford said as Clarice gasped.

"Doctor Lecter? He was really nice to us. Daddy sent him a nice Chianti wine after his quadruple bypass. He escaped? I thought the BSHCI was a tight-knit prison." Catherine said, having heard of Hannibal's actions before.

"Honey, I was afraid I'd never get you back. I didn't trust the FBI sending a trainee to lead your case. So I asked Dr. Chilton to "speed the process" a little bit." Ruth explained. Catherine, who was giving the pup to a vet to be checked out, as soon as doing so, slapped her mother really hard.

"Mama, how could you be so reckless? He could hunt US down next for this, he could hurt Dr. Chilton or Dr. Bloom. I visited them once on a field trip to DC for a week and asked to visit Dr. Lecter and thank him for Daddy's surgery since I didn't get to properly last time. That's how I heard all the terrible things he did." Catherine chastized Ruth as she asked the ambulance to keep her in a hospital near the animal hospital the dog was gonna have to go to.

"We'll get him, Clarice. Just like last time, we'll get him." Jack assured her, but she knew Hannibal had a reason to hide away this time. She then ran her fingers over her lips, lost in reverie over the kiss she had shared with Hannibal the night before and wondered if Hannibal was doing the same thing.

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Two days later  
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The ceremony was wonderful. Clarice's mom, Margot, Alana, Graham and her siblings were all there to cheer her on as she became an FBI agent. Her badge was passed around but not too much as Clarice didn't want to lose it and look like a newbie clutz in front of her new colleagues that were also becoming agents.

"It's just a shame I couldn't cater. This reception deserves a proper spread." Graham said as he was trying the cheese cubes and such.

"Maybe at my retirement party, bro." Clarice said as she giggled and hugged Graham.

"I am SOOO proud of you, baby." Clarice's mother said as she hugged her and Margot hugged her too.

"You have your father's will to fight and your other father's sense of right. But you also have my intuition. I'm sure your mother has that too though." Margot frowned.

"She might've been my mama growing up, but you're still the mama I wanna get to know more about." Clarice smiled softly as she hugged Margot, who was now tearing up. The moment was shortly broken though when Jack gave Clarice the phone.

"Clarice, there's a call for you." Jack said as he handed her the phone.

"Hello?" Clarice asked as she answered the phone.

"Must be a beautiful reception, had to be a beautiful ceremony. Hello, Clarice." Hannibal said as Clarice smiled deeply.

"It's a shame I can't tell you about it in person. Do you think of the last time I saw you like I did after hearing upon your escape?" Clarice asked.

"Yes, do you hear the sheep scream each time you feel like you lost a victim?" Hannibal asked. Not teasingly, as if he'd been analyzing her the whole time.

"No. Since that night, all I've heard was your voice. Sometimes my dad. The one I knew until his death." Clarice said as she started crying.

"I will miss you, Clarice. But I can't see you for a while. It'll be years before we can unleash all we feel for each other." Hannibal said as he found himself tearing up.

"Will I ever see you again?" Clarice asked, trying to look calm but holding back tears at the same time.

"Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm having an old friend for dinner and must prepare for them to arrive." Hannibal said as he hung up abruptly and started feeding Ruth snails.

"Does Catherine know you're doing this?" Ruth asked as she was forcefed another snail.

"I already told her I wouldn't hurt her if she didn't tell you about my plans. She said she already knew you had done what you did to me. She gave me the copy of your house key and helped me set the dining room table for when Dr. Chilton arrives from his surgery to restore his liver and other items Dr. Gideon had robbed him of years ago. A present from her to him for having to put up with you." Hannibal explained as he fed her yet another snail. "You're one of the food items he'll try after the surgery." A buzz from his phone confirmed that it was successful.

"And that was my old surgeon friend confirming that Frederick is reconnected to new organs and his system should regulate at any time now." Hannibal said as he got out his knife, already clad in his plastic kill suit. "Now, Carotid or Aorta? Which arterie shall I slit?" He smiled as he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment. Kudos are good too, but I'd love some comments. (L) :)


	8. A reunion in the making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fast forward 11 years, Clarice and Graham run the farm together (Renaming it from Muskrat to Starbloom farms as Graham's last name is technically Bloom and Margot and Alana are married.), she's in charge of fowl (which Graham was convinced to buy after a while) and sheep while Graham tends to cows, pigs, alpacas and hires hands to handle productions of milk and other goods/services. At the same time, Clarice has Paul Krendler trying to smear her name and career. Hannibal hears of that and runs to aid her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be smut. Also, Krendler's just an asshole and someone else unnamed doesn't listen to Clarice to stop the woman she kills in the book, unsure if it's a baby or a bomb.

Eleven years later  
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Muskrat Farms was looking much better and thriving. The place was all a buzz, but now it wasn't called Muskrat anymore. The sign had a shooting star shaped like a flower and called Starbloom Farms. Clarice was collecting eggs from chickens, ducks and geese. Graham was also doing pregnancy checks with the local vet on sheep and cows, the alpacas were not bred yet.

"Two Horses are pregnant, five sows are pregnant, 8 cows are pregnant and 4 female sheep are pregnant. Your sister takes good care of your sheep, Mr. Verger." The vet said.

"Thank you. And my last name's technically Bloom since my dad never married her." Graham corrected.

"Of course, my apologies." The vet said as he put his equipment away and congratulated Graham again. Meanwhile, Clarice was taking her collected eggs into the house.

"Sis, great news. We've got 19 pregnancies." Graham relayed to Clarice as they crossed paths.

"That's great." Clarice said as Graham took the basket from her and walked into the house with her. Just then, she looked at her phone, looking for an email about her suspension.

"Still no word from the FBI?" Graham asked. He had heard what an agent she'd been sent with to break up a drug deal done, how he lied to save his own ass by saying Clarice was the one who had shot a drug dealer with a baby, she told him to stop but he didn't listen because he thought it was a bomb.

"Unfortunately no. They bought his stupid words hook, line and sinker." Clarice frowned as Graham was upset for her.

"That Krendler guy who's had it out for you since you were assigned to his department last year bought it hook, line and sinker. He just turned even Jack against you. If I knew where Hannibal was living, I'd tell him just what Krendler was doing to you and he'd run right to your aid and eat the guy." Graham said feistily.

"Graham, what do you think our mother would say if she were in the house right now?" Clarice asked, attempting to scold her brother.

"She'd be thinking the same thing. Come on, you're her baby. She loves you, we both do and you know it." Graham said as Clarice nodded in understanding. She then just started to frown. It's been eleven years. Eleven years since she saw Hannibal. Eleven years since the kiss. Eleven years since she took down Buffalo Bill. She missed Hannibal and she would do anything just to see him again. "I also know that face. Everytime someone brings up Hannibal, you do that sulky face. I'm your brother. I study that face every day." Graham said as he looked at her in observation.

"So I miss him. I also miss Mom and Alana living here. That doesn't mean I'm gonna disrupt their retirement to continue living on the farm." Clarice deflected. She then walked out to pass out the feed. As she left, Graham looked back at her and decided to track Hannibal down himself.

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Meanwhile, in Florence, Hannibal was just about to send a letter to Clarice stating how he wished to hunt down the maniacs who made her feel like a worthless member of society and wishing to hold her in his arms like that night when he received a knock on the door. Wearily, he drew a knife out and went to answer the door. "Hello?" Hannibal called out just as he opened the door.

"Hello, Doctor Lector." Graham answered when Hannibal had opened the door. Though he was very young when he first spoke to Hannibal, he still recognized the voice. Withdrawing the knife from his person, he then opened the door and let the now slightly older man in.

"Graham. My young cooking pupil, come in. What brings you in Florence?" Hannibal asked excitedly as he allowed Graham in after shaking his hand.

"You're aware of Clarice's issues with the FBI, right?" Graham asked.

"Yes, I was just finishing with a letter to her when you dropped in." Hannibal said. "Why?" Hannibal asked.

"Doctor, it's really bad. This Krendler guy's really got it out for her for some stupid reason." Graham said. Hannibal could see the anguish in the young man's eyes. "I swear he had to have done something to jeapordize her like she was. Please help us, Doctor. You're our last hope." Graham begged.

"You know I kissed her once?" Hannibal said as he looked back at the letter he wrote to Clarice. "The night I escaped. I kissed her during a game of Quid Pro Quo."

"She always looks at the night sky, thinking of you. Sometimes I see her crying, but whether it's because of her job or because she misses you is hard to determine." Graham explained as Hannibal started crying silently for Clarice's struggle.

"I know how she feels. Graham, I think I can help you." Hannibal snapped up from his seat and started pulling favors. "There's an Agent Miriam Lass, she retired after shooting Dr. Chilton, it's a long story for another time. She must be working in the FBI's inner sectors and keeping tabs on everyone. Go to her and ask her to look into Krendler." He told Graham as he sent the young man back out.

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As the months went on, Clarice was still suspended but evidence against Krendler were dug up left and right. As it was shown, he had paid the agent who killed the dealer with the baby and evidence was sent to Graham, who then sent it to Hannibal and Hannibal had a plausible reason to kidnap and cook him. At the same time, Clarice got the letter and held it close to her chest. Right after, she sent him a letter in turn and sprayed it with the L'air du temps. She thought he would appreciate that.

And boy did he. The letter she sent in return was not only a pleasant surprise with the perfume, but also, quite racy in nature with the words describing how she'd love to let him ravage her in the bed she now sleeps in at the Verger estate. That thought had him awake all night, thinking about the possibility. The smell of the perfume in his nose as he pumped into his hand. The memory of when he last kissed her. He declared his love for her numerous times until completely spent and then writing a letter back, telling her how he would reciprocate what she wanted from him and what he'd love her to do to him, splashing his cologne onto the letter. She got the letter, but only after Graham opened it by mistake. She didn't get a Pavlovian effect after reading only because her brother was as white as a sheet when he saw Hannibal's handwriting describing what he would do with Clarice underneath him. Hannibal wrote an apology letter to Graham shortly after Clarice sent him a letter explaining what happened in the transfer of mail.

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Months later, after all the evidence and all the love letters, Hannibal had everything he needed on Krendler to deem him edible and struck. But not before Clarice was shot by him at her reinstatement ceremony. They had eventually gotten the evidence to name her innocent from the drug bust. Knowing his career was ending, he wanted to take her with him. Hannibal flew in as fast as he could to save her. He took her to a secluded area, operated on her and put her in a drug-induced coma until she was well enough to eat and perform all that she said she wanted to with him in all those letters.

As that time neared, he then was intruded on by Krendler, who Hannibal then knocked out and drugged with Truth Serum to make him confess to all his crimes before he then cut his head open. He then prepared Clarice.

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"Clarice, my dearest. Wake up, Mylimasis." Hannibal whispered tenderly to her. She groaned and stretched, yawning. As she started waking up, she felt a black, slightly revealing evening gown draped over her legs. She slowly sat up and looked in the mirror and saw how the gown looked on her, plus saw the wound that was barely healed on her shoulder. She then looked around for the voice she could never forget since the day they last spoke to each other.

"Hannibal? My pulse." Clarice asked, wanting verification that Hannibal was indeed embracing her for the first time in over a decade when he appeared on the bed right next to her and looked right into her eyes.

"Yes, it's me. It's me, Clarice." Hannibal was almost choked up as he and Clarice embraced on the bed and kissed deeply, Clarice latching onto him as he held her gently. They stopped to catch their breath, Clarice touching her forehead against Hannibal's as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Don't leave me again, baby." Clarice whispered to him as he held her hands and they trembled. "Please don't leave me again. I don't know how I would live again without feeling your lips against me, feeling myself immersed in your arms. You have no idea how much I've been in love with you." Clarice babbled out.

"Never again will I leave you. I'm here to stay, Mylimasis." Hannibal said as he kissed her again. "Now, I have a special surprise for you." Hannibal said as he took her arm and walked her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

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There in the dining room, once they were about to enter the kitchen, was Krendler. He had signed all the things that proved Clarice's innocence once and for all. He was tied to a chair and his brain was open.

"Mylimasis, care for an Aperitif?" Hannibal asked Clarice as she nodded softly, still groggy from the drugs and he handed her a glass as she sniffed and sipped before swishing. When she swallowed, she smiled. "Delicious." She said as she took another sip, this time small.

"Thank you, my personal favorite when it comes to opening people's appetites." He said as he started picking out pieces of Krendler's brain. "I'd offer some to Paul, but he's under the influence enough as it is. However, he will have a cocktail at the end of the night. For I hope Alana had been told by a colleague of ours at one point, Doctor Bedelia Du Maurier about a time in Florence I had served Punch Romaine for a guest." Hannibal asked as he served himself an Aperitif and joined his lover at the table before beginning to cook.

"No, but I'm sure I'd love to hear that in the morning." Clarice said, seductively looking at Hannibal as she took yet another, even smaller, sip of her Aperitif. Krendler started making sexual advances at Clarice and she felt both disgusted and uncomfortable. She then asked what the first course was and Hannibal offered some frozen tongue he had thawed out and prepared. Possibly from after Senator Martin disappeared. Clarice wanted to know if that appetizer was Ruth, but was afraid to ask Hannibal out of fear he'd think she was disgusted by his past behaviors.

"In case you're wondering, Clarice. This IS Senator Martin. Don't worry, Catherine already knows. She kind of conspired to help me kill her mother knowing she wasn't safe anymore from what she did to me." Hannibal explained. Clarice just breathed easily since she didn't wanna keep it held in like a cancer. "You can always ask me, Mylimasis. You don't have to be afraid. I already know you're okay with my "Transgressions". You're my heart and I'll never ditch you even if you were bothered." Hannibal reassured as he kissed her cheek, Clarice smiling. Unfortunately, Paul interrupted the tender moment betwixt the two by asking about Clarice's "cornpalm country pussy", causing Hannibal to tell him to be quiet and drink some broth.

"I promise to teach you how to spatchcock after we're done with our conquest." Hannibal whispered in Clarice's ear when he finished taking out Paul's prefrontal cortex to pan fry as an amuse bouche. He first offered a piece to Paul to taste, then gave some to Clarice. The piece of brain almost reminded her of the Foie Gras Graham had served her the night they kissed. She even told Hannibal that and Hannibal smiled. "Alana must've been thorough then when she made those videos of me cooking. She told me that he was a fan of my culinary prose, but she didn't say to what extent. Care for another piece?" Hannibal asked.

"After Senator Martin." Clarice said as she asked for a cup of wine to pair with the amuse bouche. Hannibal gave her a small glass since the effects of the drugs she'd been under were still in affect.

"Very well, a little more for Paul and myself." Hannibal said as he took some more of Paul's brain out of him and then pan fried it for himself and Paul, saving what was left for Clarice for after she had some of Senator Martin's tongue, which was cooking in the pan next. As that was the main course but Hannibal planned to cook it all tableside.

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An hour later, Hannibal was bringing out the ingredients for the Punch Romaine, explaining the significance of the Titanic. Everyone was full on their protein heavy exploration into exotic offal. Clarice smiled and Hannibal giggled as Paul had some, saying it was delicious and then Hannibal stabbed Paul in the esophagus and he and Clarice watched as Paul choked on his blood and as that was happening, Hannibal saved what was left of Paul's brain and put it in the fridge, put Paul's body in the fridge for the rest of the night as well, wanting to teach Clarice spatchcocking, and scooped Clarice up.

"If you wanna know, he signed confessions to framing you and asking the man who killed the drug dealer with the baby to sabotage that bust. I even made video of him doing it and making a verbal confession to those crimes. I'll send it all to a friend of mine in the FBI and she'll give it to Jack and the others." Hannibal said as he kissed Clarice's neck softly and carrying her back upstairs. Clarice giggled as he did so.

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Once she was back on the bed, they started undressing each other.

"I forgot to tell you how beautiful you looked in that dress tonight, just so ravishing." Hannibal growled as once she was out of the dress, he began to kiss her neck down to her clavicle, then kissing her breasts. With unspoken consent from Clarice, he then took a breast in his mouth and began sucking it. Running his tongue over the nipple, Clarice began to gasp. As if he were prepping a patient for surgery again, Hannibal then trailed his hands over her body, her stomach, her other breast, the middle of her breasts, up her shoulders, down her back, squeezing her rump and feeling her from behind with one hand before detatching from her breast to kiss down her body. Clarice threw her head back as Hannibal found her folds with his tongue and slowly teased while teasing with his fingers from behind. He alternated between stroking her clit with his tongue and dipping it deeper inside her, successfully finding her Skene's Gland. Clarice babbled and arched her neck as she rode the waves of pleasure from Hannibal's oral ministrations. Once they both knew she was about to come off of his tongue, he stopped and pulled his fingers out of her rump, then went to disinfect his fingers before she asked to reciprocate the oral sex.

"Your legs will be weakened still from what I just did to you, you should scoot up to the bed, here's a headboard useful for holding onto during sexual activities." Hannibal said as Clarice did as suggested. Now completely naked, Hannibal crawled up to his lover, joining her back on the bed. Clarice could see how hard Hannibal was as he kissed her again. Clarice could taste herself on his lips and tongue as he kissed her deeper. He then crawled further up over her as he then pressed his length againgst her lips. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out to lick the slit of his tip, then began sucking the tip as if she were sucking a Dumdum lollipop. Hannibal moaned at the slight teasing, but continued to let her do her ministrations. Eventually, she began to suck him further into her mouth and worked the veins of his shaft with her tongue. Hannibal grunted and panted as she kept coaxing him deeper inside her throat and then he almost came when she stroked his scrotum with her lower lip. Soon though, he had to pull out of her throat to preserve his hardness for when he properly penetrated her. He then got back to her eye level and whispered into her ear.

"Turn to face the headboard, Mylimasis." Hannibal said sweetly as Clarice did what he asked. Before she knew what he was gonna do, he first did a round of anal oral contact on her, licking almost as deep into her as he did her vagina. She gasped and moaned, but did so quietly, saving her loud moans and screams for when he properly penetrated her. Soon though, she was clenching against his tongue, so he stopped quickly before taking his length and began to thrust into her deeply.

"OH MY GOD!" Clarice gasped as Hannibal pressed himself against her to gain leverage and continue to thrust into her. He kissed her neck and clavicle as he began to wrap his arms around her. He waited until she was completely used to his thickness to begin thrusting into her deeper yet slower.

"Hannibal, baby. I'm ready, baby. Please, move." Clarice whimpered as Hannibal growled and began moving, causing the both of them to moan loud and hard. He held her with one arm and with his other hand, held onto the headboard. They rocked into each other, speed increasing with each thrust they met at. Clarice had always fantasized Hannibal as a man with such vigor for that kind of activity, but didn't want to assume until this moment. As his hips erratically slapped against her thighs, realizing he was climaxing, she braced the headboard tighter as he pulled her closer and stilled, making her mewl in surprise and pleasure as he released his pleasure hard and heavy inside of her, stopping completely frozen in place, but panting heavily in the nape of her neck. After about five minutes, he collapsed from behind her and pulled out, taking a break to catch his breath. Clarice slid back down the bed to cuddle with him. They were both worn out, but both wanted to keep going after this respite.

"THAT!" Clarice started as she curled into Hannibal's side when her breathing evened out. "Was amazing." She put a hand on his chest.

"I agree." Hannibal said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, moving his wrist around to the back of her head to stroke her hair. "We should do this more often."

"Kill a Krendler look-a-like and then have mind blowing sex until we're sated and spent?" Clarice asked.

"Kill a person in general, then have mind blowing sex." Hannibal corrected before kissing her forehead. She giggled and kissed him deeply, barely keeping her hands off of him.

"I love you, Clarice Starling." Hannibal wrapped his arms around her again before he flipped her on her back and began to enter her again.

"I love you too, Hannibal Lecter." Clarice said as Hannibal slid inside her folds and began rocking into her again, making a marathon out of the whole night that was left. Panting, thrusting, creaking sounds from the mattress, Clarice screaming just right as she and Hannibal were so loud, they thought even coyotes outside could hear their moans of pleasure. By the break of dawn, they were sated and tired. In the morning, Clarice would send an Email that she was quitting the FBI to focus more on her own life. The farm, and her new lover, who wasn't really new but who she was new to being lovers with save for the kiss they had shared oh so long ago.

Clarice was content for the first time since she had first met Doctor Hannibal Lecter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the epilogue. Hope you enjoyed reading so far. PLEASE comment.


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarice has retired from the FBI. Hannibal lives in Starbloom Farms with her and Hannibal and Graham run a charcuterie/restaurant. They're not alone though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using Google Translate for Lithuanian. Sue me if I get the translations wrong.

Seven years later  
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Clarice was done with the FBI. She was retired and happy. Hannibal was given immunity for his previous crimes and Frederick stood to vouch for it to happen, as was Alana. They had a beautiful wedding and Graham catered. A few months later, she was with child. Five years later, Mischa Simonetta Margot Lecter and William Marshall Richardas Lecter have grown into a world of farm life and rude guest deaths (on occasion, of course.), and Graham couldn't be a better uncle.

"These are Alpacas, one of them just became pregnant." Graham said as he was showing the kids around the farmland.

"What's Pregant mean?" Mischa asked as she pet the belly of the pregnant Alpaca.

"It means like when Mommy had us, right Uncle Graham?" Will asked.

"That's right, Will." Graham said as he hugged Will close as well as kissing Mischa's head. Suddenly though, his watch started beeping. "Oh, time to change shifts with Papa at the shop." Graham then picked them up and took them to a big building that was built just a year prior. In there, Hannibal was carving a pig for Frederick who was cooking for a date.

"So the lucky woman?" Hannibal asked as he finished carving pork belly and shoulder.

"Well, Catherine Martin actually contacted me about a month ago, she would like to talk to me about how her mother wasn't very good with us." Frederick said as he blushed.

"Congratulations." Hannibal said as he looked up and smiled to see Graham with the kids. "Hello, my children." Hannibal quickly washed his hands and went to embrace the twins.

"PAPA!" Mischa cooed as he kissed her cheek and Will hugged Hannibal's neck.

"Have you been good for Uncle Graham today?" He cooed back.

"Yes, Papa. We saw a pregant Aopaca." Mischa said as she smiled deeply. Hannibal always thought she looked so much like his late sister.

"Are you cooking evil tonight, Papa?" Will chimed in. He was as dark if not darker than his Will was years ago. He'll never know the child he helped make nor will he know the grandchild Hannibal made with her, but Will will live on in him.

"Not tonight, Brangusis berniukas. Papa's using Goat tonight." Hannibal smiled.

"Ooh, a new medium. Will Uncle Graham be joining us to help you? I know you like to tackle new protein mediums together. Last week it was Water Bison." Mischa said as she looked up excitedly in Hannibal's eyes just like Mischa had. She like Clarice, had blue eyes. His daughter was no exception to the rule as it seemed blue eyes was a dominant alele.

"Who's hungry for lunch?" Clarice asked as she was picking up some cheese for sandwiches. "Got some ham picked up earlier from the charcuterie, thought the kids might like a Grilled ham and cheese." Clarice walked over to the threesome and kissed Hannibal hello before the kids cheered and she scooped them up to kiss them as well.

"It'll be a sad day to send them off to school." Clarice said.

"What's skool?" Mischa asked.

"It's like Daycare but longer." Will explained.

"You're a lot smarter for a 5-year-old you know that? Like wicked smart." Clarice said.

"He gets that from your father, but probably from his as well." Graham said as he finished cutting the shoulder for Frederick as the man walked off with a thank you and a $50 bill on the table.

"Shoulder and Belly are only $10 a pound this week." Graham said, confused before he put it in the register and thought nothing of it after.

"So sandwiches?" Clarice asked as she embraced her brood, to which everyone cheered and went back to the main house to cook lunch.

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Later that night, after the goat had been cooked and the kids had gone to bed, teeth brushed and flossed, stories read and songs sung to them in Lithuanian, Hannibal's insistence as he wanted them to learn their Papa's native tongue as much as their mother's, Hannibal and Clarice were embracing in bed.

"You know, we've yet to have a family vacation since we had the Twins." Clarice said.

"Hmm. That would be nice. Have Graham handle things at the farm, while we once again trek the world. Buenos Aries again?" Hannibal asked.

"Nah, too boring. I'm actually fascinated by the idea of further showing the Twins your Ancestral home though." Clarice said.

"In Lithuania?" Hannibal asked.

"Of course. Afterall, it's important for the kids to learn of where they come from and Mischa loves playing Princess too much when cooped up inside for too long. Maybe she'd like to know she's a Countess." Clarice explained.

"A family trip to my home in Lithuania. You, me, the children." Hannibal said starry-eyed as his memory palace could see it now, Will and Mischa running up to the castle their papa grew up in, Hannibal giggling as he pauses before going in after them, Will finding the old Wine cellar where Will turned the beggar who ate Mischa's namesake into a beautiful piece of art, Mischa exploring her namesake's old bedroom and admiring all the toys she loved to play with that now sit as antique relics, Chiyoh greeting them all in all.

"And the baby." Clarice said, breaking Hannibal out of his trance.

"Sorry? I didn't quite understand." Hannibal said.

"You, me, Mischa, Will and the new baby." Clarice said as she then pulled out a pregnancy test she had taken earlier that morning.

"We're having another child?" Hannibal asked as he swooned and kissed Clarice excitedly "Clarice, you make me happier and happier everyday."

"You made me happy the day we first kissed." Clarice said as they kissed again, then Hannibal kissed her stomach and began to speak to the newly found-out zygote to be determined the sex of later, singing to it in Lithuanian, making Clarice laugh and cry at the same time.

"Aš myliu jus su kiekvienu širdies plakimu." Hannibal said to Clarice as they embraced once again.

"Aš myliu tave labiau." Clarice said, shocking Hannibal as he didn't know she was even learning Lithuanian at that point.

They fell asleep happy and excited for the rest of their future and lives as Husband and Wife.

No one'd been more content than either of them were at that very moment.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed. So, the Lithuanian.
> 
> Brangusis berniukas-Brangusis means Darling, but it can mean other things, but Darling was one of the meanings and I was looking for a word meaning Darling; berniukas means boy. Eerily enough, I was looking for a word for Darling but boy was the only word that would translate to Lithuanian for me from English.
> 
> Aš myliu jus su kiekvienu širdies plakimu-I love you with every heartbeat.
> 
> Aš myliu tave labiau-I love you more.
> 
> PLEASE comment. Kudos are good but Comments are better. Let me know what you think with Comments please.

**Author's Note:**

> How did I do opening this story? Is it good so far? It's my first story in the Hannibal series so *thumbs up*? Leave a comment and/or kudos.


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